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aprilsimpsonhunt-blog · 7 years ago

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Hey! I hope this post finds you well! It’s been quite some time since I’ve posted. I recently took some time off from all my creative processes. It was about two months, total. I’m currently in the process of writing the whole story out, for your reading pleasure. It’s a gristly tale of mom burnout, losing creative focus, and learning to let go. But that isn’t this post. This one is a fun sewing post! I’ve sewn up a gorgeous little ensemble for my youngest, using one of my favorite designers, Annelaine patterns! (affiliate link)

I’m a part of the Annelaine Patterns ambassador team. Joining the team seemed like a natural choice for me, since I’ve been a fan/user of Jennifer & her company, Annelaine since they started. Aquila has been a “tester” for many of the patterns, including the first few. One of my favorite things about sewing has been watching my progress through photographs. I love to look back at old makes and see how far I’ve come, in my sewing skills, as well as my photography and editing skills. I also love seeing the kids as they grow, wearing my clothes! For fun, here are some of Aquila’s Annelaine tester photos, starting from the very beginning!

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Above, you can see the very first set of Triple playtime shorts we made. l have so much love for these shorts that I thought I would include them in our outfit again this time. The shorts can be made of knit or woven fabrics (perfect for stash busting!) and have optional bands, ruffles or pleats around the front edge. Our last set was made entirely out of woven fabrics, but this time I opted to use woven for the main body and pleats, then knit for the waistband. It helped keep it simple and I even got to skip the elastic! (she’s growing like a weed, & knit waistbands last longer for us than elastic ones) I re-purposed an old maxi skirt (purple solid) and blouse (peacock print) for the main, woven pieces of the ensemble. Then, I used my favorite fabric, a Mint Solid double brushed polyester from Aurora Design Fabrics the for the knit pieces.

Welcoming warmer weather with 2 of our favorite Annelaine Girls’ patterns! Hey! I hope this post finds you well! It's been quite some time since I've posted. I recently took some time off from all my creative processes.

#Annelaine #annelaine patterns #Blouse #girls clothing #shorts #Triple Playtime shorts #Villeta Top

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aprilsimpsonhunt-blog · 7 years ago

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Testing: George & Ginger Bonnaroo Bundle

Hi everyone! It’s been quite a long time since I’ve posted. I’ve been living the toddler-mom life to the fullest, picking up spill after spill. Saving her from burning down the house, maiming herself and other countless antics. Still, this new release from George And Ginger Pattern Companywarrants a share, so I wanted to jump on here and share it with you guys! (the littlest minion is…

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#aurora design fabrics #aurora designs #bonnaroo #DIY #george and ginger #GG #gored skirt #hi low skirt #maxi skirt #music festival #pattern test #pattern testing #Sewing #summer #tank top #ties #wovens

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aprilsimpsonhunt-blog · 7 years ago

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Testing: The Agusta Moto Pants & Walker Shorts from the DIBY Club!

Hey y’all! How are you? Hope you’re having an incredible week and things are going well in your world. Thank you so much for coming by today. I recently got the opportunity to test a couple fabulous pieces for Jessica and Kelly of the Do It Better Yourself Club. I had a lot of fun testing these pants, learned a lot of new things, and got some beautiful pieces out of the deal! I’m super excited…

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#capris #denim #DIBY #DIBY club #moto #moto pants #pattern test #pattern testing #Sewing #stretch denim

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aprilsimpsonhunt-blog · 7 years ago

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Hi friends! I apologize for the lack of posts here lately! Things have been a bit busy in my neck of the woods, and I’ve been struggling to stay focused on….wellllll��.just about anything & everything, (if I’m truly honest.) 😆 I received my second ambassador box from Simply By Ti fabrics this month, though, and I simply (pun intended 😆 ) had to write a post about my plans for them!

You can find our unboxing video here:

The kids are almost as excited as I am when we receive fabric now, so anytime we get home from Pre-K pickup and there is a box on the porch for me, they grab it and run inside, get my camera, and tell me to turn it on. One of my favorite things about being a part of the Simply By Ti ambassador program is that I get to choose my fabrics. This month, I decided to use my choices to help me get ready for spring. So I purchased a yard of the 6″ white and lavender galloon lace, ayard of the Lavender stretch lace, 2 yards of a gorgeous blue border print on ITY, and 2 yards of the medium blue rayon spandex. Tibeca said she hates sending out boxes that aren’t completely full, so she even threw in a half yard of an amazing custom purple rose print on DBP! I also purchased 2 sets of bra straps.…and forgot to order Picot trim (which as it turns out, is super important for bras or bralettes….so I ordered it today!) 🙂

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Every Spring, the weather begins to shift a bit and I catch little glimpses of warmth here and there. It raises my mood almost instantly, and makes me begin to dream about long, warm days and being on the water. I practically live in a bathing suit, rompers, and dresses during the summer. There is nothing like being able to quickly throw on one piece of clothing and be done getting dressed, is there? Last spring, I was still working towards being confident sewing clothing, so I think I may have only made one or two dresses. The rest of my summer wardrobe was store bought. My goal for this summer is to have an entirely me-made wardrobe, from the bathing suit outwards! Since rompers and maxi dresses were on my mind, I ordered a couple yards of both of the blue fabrics. Once I had them in my hand, I couldn’t quite figure out which pattern to use. I was attempting to decide between the George & Ginger Goddess Romper (the pants option) and the Daydream dress. The Daydream dress ended up winning, solely because I knew it would be just a tad quicker for me to make. I recently gave up my office/sewing room so that our youngest 2 could FINALLY quit co-sleeping and have their own space. They’re overjoyed with their room….not so much with the prospect of putting themselves to bed. But, I digress….

I can only sew before bedtime, since my two youngest are light sleepers and my sewing machine is now about 10 feet from their heads, so I began cutting on night one, right before baths. I finished it the very next day, right before naptime. It was a super quick, easy sew, and I am in love with how it turned out. I made a big “oops” and cut the longer bodice AND the longer skirt, so it’s just a touch too long. I didn’t want to hem it too high, as I would be losing the majority of my border print, so I took a larger seam allowance at the bottom of the bodice. It ended up taking some of the waistband away, but at least now I won’t be tripping all over myself (which I’m prone to do in maxis, anyway. 😆 ) The skirt is very large (it took the majority of my 2 yards, just for it) and gathered, so it’s fairly heavy. The pattern calls to have it gathered and then just attach it to the skirt, but I was worried that it would pull a little too much. The ITY was very light, considering, but still…. So I added a bit of elastic to the waist, right above where I had gathered. I then turned the Seam allowance and elastic up and topstitched them to the waistband.. I only broke 2 needles in the process! haha. 😆 I’m not positive the elastic will help much, but I’m glad I added it, if for nothing else, than for a bit of stability.

I have to say, this rayon spandex and ITY are heavenly. The rayon is super soft, stretchy and just thin enough to be lightweight, but not so thin that it’s see through. The ITY is silky, soft, stretchy and even lighter weight than the rayon, but still not opaque. I love the dress, so much so that I probably took about a million pictures. The day I decided to take the photos was honestly the first warm day we had had in weeks, so I let the kids run around out back while I snapped away, trying to get my Nikon app to communicate with my camera, which had to be super far away, because I prefer the 70mm-300mm lens (it gives much better background bokeh!) Hubby is so used to me sewing, he rarely says anything about new pieces. But this dress, he liked. I walked past him in the kitchen and said he couldn’t believe that A) I had finished something so quickly, and B) it was so pretty. 🙂 I’ll take that as a notch in the win column. What do you think of my dress?

I made hubby a set of the Create Kids Couture Tyson boxers, but he simply refuses to model them for me. He must like them, because I can’t seem to grab them out of the laundry quick enough to get a flat lay photo done, either. I figured the rayon spandex would be perfect for summer time undies, since it was so lightweight and breathable. Apparently, he thinks so too. Maybe I’ll try to snap a pic of him one of these days while he is getting dressed 😆

Thank you so much for stopping by and for reading. I hope you’re having an amazing day! See you again soon?

Until next time

April Simpson Hunt

Diving into Spring with new fabrics, a new dress, and a new video! Hi friends! I apologize for the lack of posts here lately! Things have been a bit busy in my neck of the woods, and I've been struggling to stay focused on....wellllll....just about anything & everything, (if I'm truly honest.) 😆 I received my second ambassador box from Simply By Ti fabrics this month, though, and I simply (pun intended 😆 ) had to write a post about my plans for them!

#daydream dress #dresses #first runs with a pattern #George and ginger pattern co #handmade #maxi dress #memade #pattern testing #PDF pattern #selfish sewing #sewcialist #Sewing #sewing pattern #simply by ti

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aprilsimpsonhunt-blog · 7 years ago

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Hi everyone! Thank you so much for stopping by today! I received some goodies from Aurora Design Fabrics this month, and wanted to share all of the resulting projects with you!

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This month seemed like it moved a bit slower than January. I’m not sure why. When I look back at everything I’ve made, I can see that I’ve been just as busy. Perhaps I’m just getting better at my time management skills? (Yeah, right. 😆 ) I don’t know. What I do know is that when I received not one, but TWO packages from Brandi Lowery at Aurora Design Fabrics this month, I was over the moon with the pretties I had to work with. I originally made an unboxing video with the kids, but my memory card “ate” it. (said the file was corrupt) You will probably all thank my memory card for it, as both kids get SUPER excited about fabric packages and tend to bounce off the walls a bit. I couldn’t just NOT share, so I decided to bust the camera back out, cross my fingers that the memory card gods were happy with me again, and take some photos of my pretties. I wasn’t able to photograph everything, as the kids had reached their “be indoors and not drive mom crazy” limit for the day. There were a couple panels I had bought during a $5 Friday sale, as well as more of the quilted knit and some solids. 🙂

I received the hot pink quilted knit and the light purple Andromeda print in my first package, and it was LOVE. I knew I wanted to make something “different” but couldn’t settle on any concrete plans for them. We had recently completed a Wiggle Dress (by Patterns for Pirates) sew a long in the Sewing Menagerie by Aurora Designs Facebook group and I desperately wanted to make the formal, floor length version of the pattern, but I have clumsy walking issues when it comes to floor length things. I was hemming and hawing away…truly stuck, when I realized that I was on a time crunch to sew up the Watercolor Fandom prints. (the round was closing at the end of the month). So, I put those fabrics to the side and jumped into the Fandoms. There are pics above of my daughter’s shirt and pics of mine are below, but I wrote an entire post on them. If you would like to see it, you can find that here: Watercolor Fandom round: Aurora Design Fabrics

After the fandoms, I went right back into planning mode for the Andromeda and quilted knit. I posted to our team Facebook group, since I was really and truly stuck. As always, they came through! Elizabeth recommended that I try the Wiggle dress separates hack…and color block it. I loved this idea! I am the exact OPPOSITE of curvy (super straight? boyish? waif like? I have yet to hear a term I like, so I’ll just go with “built like a teenage boy” 😆 ), so super fitted things like the wiggle dress or a pencil skirt (even separates) make me nervous. I thought that maybe by adding color blocking to the sides, I could create the illusion of curves, even when there were none. Of course….it couldn’t be that easy, right? OCD sewist that I am, I decided that I wanted to push the envelope just a little bit further and create something truly epic. (in my mind, anyway!) So I kept searching. Every time I searched, looking for inspiration, I found these gorgeous Mermaid style high low dresses (fishtails). I suppose it was fate, as I fancy myself to be a mermaid. 🙂 And thus, a plan was formed. I would use the Wiggle dress top, Timeless Pencil Skirt from Everything Your Mother Made Patterns , and self draft a high-low flounce piece to add to the bottom. How hard could it be? 😆 😆 😆

The first 2 pieces came together quickly and easily. I had made a Wiggle dress already, so I felt comfortable with the pattern. I love the elastic around the neckline! I’m not sure why I’ve never thought to add elastic around one before, but it’s great for lower backs, like the one in this dress! It’s also great if you have narrow shoulders, like I do. No more neckline dipping in the front (or back!) I also love that there is a back seam. To be honest, by the end of my crazy project, I almost wish I had just used the bottom of the Wiggle dress for my skirt piece (at least as a jumping off point), but you live and learn, right? I reached for the Timeless Pencil Skirt from Everything Your Mother Made Patterns, because I wanted something that I knew would be fitted well to my shape & something I was comfortable with. I knew I could achieve easily the result I wanted with it. I was lucky enough to get to test the girls’ version of the skirt awhile back and received a copy of the women’s pattern as a gift for testing. (You can find the Women’s and Girls’ bundle of skirt patterns here: Timeless Pencil Skirt Bundle: EYMM). The pencil skirt pattern comes with tons of options, but the ones I reach for every time are the tapered leg, kick pleat, mid rise with the contoured, mid rise waistband. With this version, I took 3.5″ wide strips of the hot pink quilted knit, stitched them RST to the front of the skirt, flipped them back over, top stitched the quilted knit down, then cut the curves (or rectangle, if you’re me. lol) according to the pattern. I also skipped the kick pleat and hem (it’s a super quick sew, just like the wiggle!). Even with the colorblocking, it was a super fast sew. After completing the top and the skirt, I began to work in earnest on the flounce piece.

Somehow, I managed to pull together a high low flounce piece that worked, but it the process would have been much easier if I had given myself more time to think it through. I started on Pinterest, where I found a line drawing of a high low skirt piece, then took measurements from the bottom of the pencil skirt to the floor (for the back of the flounce) and right under my knee (for the front). I had it all figured out, was feeling rather smug, *insert back pat here* and had the scissors up, ready to cut into my flounce…..when I realized “my skirt is COLORBLOCKED!” 😆 *facepalm* Soooo, I then began sewing a long, large strip of the Andromeda with strips of the quilted knit on either side of it that were half as wide. (all guesstimation at this point. ) Then, I used an even wider strip of Andromeda (twice as wide as the front) for the back portion. After figuring all of that out, I just could NOT wrap my brain around how to lie my fabric out to be cut, without cutting it the wrong way. So I improvised and folded it in half exactly. I then laid it out on the floor, 0.5″ below the pencil skirt. I cut the front end of the skirt approximately where I wanted it, the back end approximately where I wanted it (based on where I knew the skirt would fall when on my body). After establishing both of those points, I cut the rest of the flounce at an angle, making sure to leave a large portion of the volume/width in the back (my upwards angle started about halfway through the quilted knit pieces)

After cutting, I was finally on the homeward stretch. I gathered the flounce to the width of the pencil skirt bottom as best I could. I ended up having to use a small piece of elastic on the front portion, since I couldn’t get it gathered tight enough and I didn’t want to stretch the bottom of the skirt too much I lined up the pink quilted knit portions, then attached the two. (sewing RST, skirt inside the flounce) I used a thin rolled hem, since I didn’t want to lose any of that precious length. It was a pain. I’m not going to lie. (and I sincerely hope it was easier to read than it was to try and explain!) 🙂 What do you think of my high-low mermaid dress/pieces? I’m in love with them….although I’m still not sure I’ll rock them every day. Maybe I’ll save them for a night on the town….if my toddler ever gets weaned. 😉

After taking on the challenge of the mermaid style dress, I wanted to go an easier route with my remaining fabrics. I had a half yard of the orange glitter on cotton french terry and it was amazingly lush. I struggled with the urge to hoard it-several times-but ultimately figured I had better make something quickly before I lost the battle. 🙂 I ended up reaching for something tried and true for Kalel, a Treasure Pocket Tee from Duck Butt Designs. I added a shoulder seam stripe detail by just attaching a thin strip of black DBP at the front and back shoulder seams (a trick I picked up from the Brindille and Twig Scuba Raglan Hoodie). I used one of my beloved Fox panels for the front and was in love with the way it coordinated with the Orange glitter print! Kalel LOVES taking pictures. Can you tell? If all of my projects were this easy to photograph and stitch up, I would probably sew a lot more! 🙂

For my own piece, I grabbed the Swing Tank from Petite Stitchery and Co. I love the neckline of it and wanted something that felt like spring to me. I was a bit limited with my fabric pieces by this point, so I had to piece together enough to get the entire back bodice of the tank, but it was so worth it! I used the Out of this world panel that I grabbed during a $5 Friday sale last month for the front. I love how large the adult sized panels are! I wasn’t sure if the entire front bodice piece would fit before I laid it out. Not only did it fit, but I had a good amount of scrap DBP left over to use for another project! (I love to use these pieces for undies, bralettes, bands and cuffs)

You can find the purple andromeda print here: Purple Andromeda

The pink quilted knit: Hot Pink Quilted Knit

The Glitter Prints are here: Aurora Designs On demand printing

All the panels are located here: Aurora Designs In House Panels

Those are all the projects I’ve made so far! I still have a few panels and pieces, but I don’t have any specific plans mapped out for those just yet. Thank you so much for stopping by and for reading. I hope you enjoyed seeing what goes into my projects, and that you enjoyed seeing them. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to know anything!

Have a wonderful day,

April Simpson Hunt

***some of the links included in this post are affiliate links. These links serve to give me a referral credit for sales that come from my posts. They are pretty small, but each and every one of them add up and help me continue to keep sewing! Thank you so much for your support! If you have any questions, you can read all about my Terms and Conditions here.

Mermaids, glitter, galaxies and foxes, oh my! (My Aurora Designs February strike off projects) Hi everyone! Thank you so much for stopping by today! I received some goodies from Aurora Design Fabrics this month, and wanted to share all of the resulting projects with you!

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aprilsimpsonhunt-blog · 7 years ago

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Hi everyone! Welcome and thank you so much for swinging by my little internet cove! I was thrilled to get to be a part of this blog tour, and can’t wait to share what I’ve made with you!

*Please visit all the stops on the Get Ready for Spring Blog Tour featuring Ellie and Mac spring sewing patterns (35% of right now), hosted by Seams Sew Lo. Do no forget to enter the giveaway below too!*

I’ve been following along with the different tour stops and I must say, I didn’t realize how many more patterns I need! (shouldn’t blog tours come with #enableralerts ?) I’ve done pattern testing for Lindsey (the designer behind Ellie & Mac) for quite some time now. As a result, My family & I probably have closets full of E&M patterns. (See some examples here, here, or here) For this post, though, I wanted to start fresh and use a pattern I hadn’t sewn before. Enter the Wide Leg Pants Pattern This pattern features a looser fit (there is also a more tapered option, as well), optional drawstring, skinny yoga style waistband, cuffs and pockets. We always seem to need more pants in my household, so I’m confident that this pattern will get a ton of use!

My son, Kalel, is 5, and a pants hater. Seriously. They’re all “too hard” (jeans), “too soft” (DBP), “too tight” (skinny pants), “too loose on top and tight on bottom” (joggers)…..etc, etc, ad nauseam. I’m just about at my wits end with the whole thing. For some reason, his teachers won’t let me drop him off at Pre-K with no pants. (who knew?) So I’m still searching for that perfect fabric/pattern combo that he will be pleased with. Now, Kalel may not love pants, but he’s a sucker for pockets (like mother, like son). I chose this pattern because pockets. Also, because it was a new style that we hadn’t tried before. I love that they’re less fitted, but still a bit structured, making them perfect for school days or even dinners/event, if done in the right fabric.

Since he always nixes my fabric choices, I tried one that was new to us, re-purposing an old pair of pants that never fit quite right. The material is a cross between a liverpool & a heavy stretch denim. I’ve never seen anything like it, but loved it. (the only reason I hung onto a pair of ill-fitting pants for 5 years. haha) I simply cut the pants open along all the seams (no time for seam ripping here!) and laid out my pattern pieces along the curves that were most similar. I didn’t have enough of the fabric left over after cutting out the four leg pieces, so I used some of my white double brushed poly scraps for the waistband and pockets. Normally, DBP isn’t a fabric I would have chosen for these pieces (it lacks the structure to pull them off), but the scraps were from Aurora Design Fabrics panels and therefore pretty thick and lush. Perfect for a super comfy waistband and soft pockets.

The pants came together quickly and easily. The pattern instructions were clear and concise, and the step by step photos helped enormously. I love that these are made by sewing the legs together, then the crotch curve, then the inseam. For some reason, any time I do those steps in any other order, my inseam ends up not matching. I opted to leave off the drawstring lest I give him something else to complain about. After finishing up his pair, I went off in search of another E&M pattern to sew up and write about. While searching, I found a royal blue scuba from Aurora Design Fabrics in my stash that looks almost identical in color to the fabric I had used for his pants. It was only about a half yard, but with the 4 way stretch, I was easily able to accommodate the pattern pieces for a pair of the pants in a size 2T for my daughter, Aquila.

I used the same white DBP for her waistband and pockets, so that her pants would be identical to her brother’s. I love when I can find an excuse for the two of them to match! Aquila’s pair came out a tad big, but that was my fault for not measuring her exactly. She’s been growing like a weed, though, so I’m sure they will fit perfectly sometime next week. 😉 She isn’t as easy to photograph as her brother. Something about being 2. I had forgotten how impossible it is to get toddlers to sit (or stand) still for any amount of time. Trying to get these photos was quite fun/crazy/hilarious. It had been raining for 3 days straight, so we were stuck indoors. I figured I would manage to get at least a few decent pics if I let them have some fun, jumping on the bed. When that didn’t work, I used an age old photography trick that I learned recently in the PDF Pattern Photography Posse Facebook Group. Need to photograph a toddler? Turn on burst/continuous mode and stick them somewhere where they can’t run. Just be sure to grab the shots fast, before they realize they’re stuck. 😉

I had so much fun creating, photographing and writing to share with you all today!

Thank you for stopping by to read! Please be sure to say hi and let me know what you think! Do you like to make matching sets of things when you sew? I would love to hear from you! Please sure to enter the giveaway and get in on the pattern sale! There are tons of great things to make at Ellie & Mac. Her prices are already budget friendly. At sale prices, their truly phenomenal! 🙂 I leave you with our outtakes:

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Pattern used: Ellie and Mac Boy’s Wild Wide Leg Pants Pattern

Fabric used: Royal Blue Scuba from Aurora Design Fabrics

Facebook Group: Ellie & Mac Patterns Facebook Group

To read about Aquila’s shirt (also handmade): Watercolor Fandom Round: Aurora Design Fabrics

Here are all the stops on the Get Ready for Spring Blog Tour. All Ellie and Mac spring sewing patterns are 35% off right now! Thank you to our host, Seams Sew Lo. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway below too!

February 3rd: Seams Sew Lo (Intro)

February 4th: Seams Sew Lo

February 5th: Violets and Jewels

February 6th: Threadistry

February 7th: Mama Can Make it

February 8th: My Crazy Crafty Beautiful Life

February 9th: Aurora Designs

February 10th: Flaxfield Sewing

February 11th: Floral and Flannel

February 12th: FABulous Home Sewn

February 13th: Minns Things

February 14th: Our Play Place

February 15th: Tenille’s Thread

February 16th: Seams Like Style

February 17th: Hutsepruts

February 18th: Candi Couture Designs

February 19th: My Sewing Roots

February 20th: Manning the Machine

February 21st: Stitched by Jennie

February 22nd: Kathy’s Kwilts and More

February 23rd: Sewjourns

**YOU ARE HERE**** February 24th: Mermaid Mama Designs

February 25th: Fee Bricolo

February 26th: Oak Blue Designs

February 27th: Big Fly Notions

February 28th: Sewing Blue

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**some of the links in this post are affiliate links. These links serve to give me credit for any referrals/sales that come from my posts. They aren’t big, but each and every single one adds up and helps me continue sewing! Thank you so much for your support. If you would like to know how the affiliate links work, please read our terms and conditions/privacy policy , comment below, or email me at [email protected] . Thank you so much for your support!

Blog Tour: Get Ready for Spring with Seams Sew Lo, Ft Ellie & Mac Patterns Hi everyone! Welcome and thank you so much for swinging by my little internet cove! I was thrilled to get to be a part of this blog tour, and can't wait to share what I've made with you!

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aprilsimpsonhunt-blog · 7 years ago

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Hi everyone! Thank you so much for stopping by! I just got to sew up some pretties from my friend Brandi at Aurora Design Fabrics, and wanted to share the newest round with you!

Meet the watercolor fandom round!

There are a ton of coordinating panels that are also a part of this round, but I’m lazy I didn’t have time to grab shots of them all. The collage above is all of the prints. There is a white, charcoal and watercolor version for each fandom. The fandoms are (from top left, clockwise): Harry Potter, Supernatural, Star Wars, Dr. Who, & Game of Thrones. I got to sew up a fat half of the Game of Thrones watercolor print, half yard of the watercolor coordinate (both in cotton lycra), and a Game of Thrones panel on DBP.

You can find the entire collection here:

Watercolor Fandom Round

It’s open until March 2, 2018….so hurry!

Do you have certain fabric types that speak to you? Cotton lycra always does this for me, it seems. Every time I have CL, it seems like it’s yelling to be made into a George & Ginger Posh Top. I think this is because during the testing process (you can read about that here), I made the top out of a few different fabric types, but none gave the sleeve as much character (read: poofiness) as cotton lycra did. This cotton lycra from Aurora Designs is perfection. Nice and thick, soft, and the colors are super vibrant. Turquoise/mint is my favorite color, so I was thrilled to get to wear so much of it. I used small scraps of royal blue scuba for the shoulder seam details and the cuffs. I also did a bit of colorblocking, because I was using a little kids’ sized panel (15″ X 18″) . To make the panel work for my front bodice, I simply attached 2 small strips of mint DBP to the sides, then attached a larger strip to the bottom, before cutting out my bodice piece. I find it a lot easier to add the fabric first, before cutting. Otherwise the seam allowances I need always end up throwing me off. 🙂 **For panel size reference, I wear a size XS in this top.

We were lucky enough to get a few sunshiny days, so I was even able to grab some outdoor shots! It’s been awhile since I have been able to get photos outdoors without freezing my bum off, so I was super excited about it. I may have been a little too excited….as I forgot to adjust my camera’s ISO (light sensitivity) accordingly. Better to be super bright than dark, am I right? lol

After making my top, I still had a few little pieces of each print left. When sewing strike offs, I try to sew up every single scrap. Something about having leftover fabric makes me feel guilty. Especially if they are useable pieces. So I pieced together what I had left and went digging through my patterns to try and find one that would work. I stumbled upon The Wolf and Tree Abby’s Sweet V-Neck Pattern. I have never made this before, but have had it all ready to go for quite some time now. Luckily for me, the pieces I had left seemed to be a perfect fit for the pattern pieces! The pattern came together quickly and easily, much to my surprise (I assumed that pleats + faux cami=time consuming).

I absolutely LOVE the look of this shirt! I used the Game of Thrones watercolor for the bottom of the front bodice, then the watercolor coordinate for the back and sleeves. I also used royal blue scuba (also from Aurora Designs) for the bodice and sleeve bands. I had just used the scuba to create a pair of wide leg pants for her, to match the pair I made her brother. (You can read that post – part of the Get Ready for Spring Blog Tour- here) I promise that I tried my best to get some good photos of her. She is a FORCE lately. Being trapped indoors while it rained for 4 days straight didn’t help. (“why hello, terrible twos. I’m so thrilled you’re back. I didn’t even miss you!” lol) At least she’s cute, right? 🙂

Thank you so much for stopping by and for reading! I’m so in love with this round of fabric and panels! What do you think of them? Are you part of any particular “fandoms”? Which ones? I would love to hear from you! Leave me a comment and say hi, if you feel like it!

Fabrics used: Aurora Design Fabrics Watercolor Fandom Round & Shop

Patterns used: Abby’s Sweet V-Neck Pattern, George And Ginger Pattern Co Posh Top

Have a wonderful day,

Until next time,

April Simpson Hunt

Watercolor Fandom round: Aurora Design Fabrics Hi everyone! Thank you so much for stopping by! I just got to sew up some pretties from my friend Brandi at…

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